Japan’s powerful business lobby Keidanren is dominated by energy-intensive sectors that represent less than 10% of the economy, resulting in national policies that favour coal and hindering attempts to combat climate change, a new study said.

The influence of the country’s electricity, steel, cement, car and fossil fuel sectors undermines Japan’s attempts to meet its Paris Agreement commitments, according to the report by London-based data analysis company InfluenceMap.

The Keidanren, which has close ties with the trade and industry ministry as well as other government bodies, sits on expert panels and other forums where government policies are debated. It has acted as a ‘central negotiating point’ on climate policy for two decades, the report said.

While it claims to represent all of Japanese business, the claim “clearly should be questioned on climate/energy policy,” InfluenceMap said. It added the most powerful industries within Keidanren only employ about 2.7 million, while those with little influence employ 10 times that number.

Lobbying and consultation by business groups will be critical next year when the government reviews its strategic energy plan.

The Keidanren’s influence was seen last year when it argued that a target proposed by the government to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050 was “extremely ambitious” and pushed for any new target to be a “vision”, InfluenceMap said.

Japan later adopted a goal of achieving carbon neutrality as soon as possible in the latter half of this century, rather than an explicit 2050 emissions target.

Keidanren said in a statement to Reuters it could not comment on the study as it had yet to formally receive a copy. But it added it had made policy commitments to a low carbon society and the government’s climate goals were consistent with Paris agreement goals.

InfluenceMap noted that other groups in Japan which count blue-chip firms from the retail, finance, tech and construction sectors among their members - such as the Japan Climate Initiative and Japan Climate Leaders’ Partnership - have sharply criticised the government’s climate change efforts.

The study’s findings are “mostly consistent with my personal experience as a policymaker in Japan to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol and to develop national legislation,” Hikaru Kobayashi, who was vice minister for the environment from July 2009 to January 2011, told Reuters.

Guest post from Reuters